Texas colleges see plunge in foreign applications
Analysts point to anti-immigration rhetoric from Trump as a significant cause for the plummet
Students from India, China, Iran and other countries have long flocked to Texas campuses to work with top professors and to earn a prestigious American degree.
But this year, those students appear to be less enamored by the Lone Star State.
International applications to Texas’ four-year public universities have plummeted over the past year by at least 10,000, a 12.5 percent decrease from last fall, according to a Houston Chronicle review of university data. The dramatic decline is a stark contrast to the 30 percent increase in applications from 2013 to 2016. At the University of Houston, for example, foreign applications dropped by 27 percent.
Several factors are likely causing foreign students to look elsewhere, analysts and campus administrators say, noting a sluggish global economy and greater competition from other countries. Still, many bluntly point to President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric as significant, saying it is creating an unwelcoming environment.
“U.S. politics has made some international students uncomfortable,” said Jeff Fuller, a former admissions director at the University of Houston who left his post in May.
Fuller said potential foreign applicants’ questions showed anxiety. Will I be deported? Could my visa change? And, he said, they wondered, “How accepting would a campus be of an international student when everything they see on TV shows ‘build a wall’?”
The decline comes as U.S. public colleges increasingly see enrolling foreign students as important to their operations and mission. International students pay out-of-state tuition prices, an important revenue source as universities fear declining state support. Foreign students make up a significant portion of the diversity that campuses value.
Drawing students from around the globe shows prestige and reach, too. Texas universities enroll the third-highest number of foreign students in the country, according to the Institute of International Education, an advocacy group for student exchange.
“It is a cause for concern across all universities,” said Yvette Bendeck, the associate vice president of enrollment management at the University of Houston Clear Lake. “Everybody’s talking about how to approach the shift that we’re seeing globally ... interaction with people of different backgrounds is an experience people should have when they’re in the classroom.” Seeing a striking decline
Thirty-one of 35 four-year public universities reported their international application figures to the Houston Chronicle in response to open records requests in May and June. More than 75 percent of responding universities saw applications decline. Some universities said their numbers could change; several campuses provided data that included in-process applications; and others were still accepting applications.
Even large research universities saw declines. UH’s drop followed three years of steady growth. Texas A&M University saw a 6.7 percent decline, amounting to about 1,000 fewer applications. The University of Texas at Austin saw a 4.2 percent decline.
UH said it admitted almost the same number of international undergraduates even though it got fewer applications.
“Despite any declines in applications from international students, there are still more qualified applicants than our universities can serve,” said Laylan Copelin, a Texas A&M University System spokesman, in an email.
Other universities expect that the smaller application numbers will translate to a smaller number of foreign students on campus because if potential applicants are less likely to apply, they may be less likely to enroll.
A survey from enrollment management firm Royall & Company found that one-third of more than 2,100 high school juniors and seniors globally said the current political climate makes them less interested in enrolling in a U.S. university.
“You follow the funnel,” Bendeck said. “The numbers will go down. With less (international) students, there will be some budgetary impact.”
By the time Trump signed executive actions on immigration, many application deadlines had passed, but his campaign rhetoric resonated with applicants choosing where to apply, analysts said.
“Up to this year … anyone who started looking elsewhere, it was partially because of the money,” said Rebecca Grappo, a Colorado-based international education consultant who works with foreign students and families. “Now what I’m hearing, it’s almost all because of the atmosphere.”
Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi and Angelo State University in San Angelo attributed declines in applications to changing partnerships with international groups and exchange programs that assist in recruiting. A Texas State University spokesman said university systems in Australia and Canada had heightened recruiting, creating a more competitive field.
Brian Armstrong, executive director of admissions at Texas Southern University, attributes part of the university’s 28 percent decline to Saudi and Nigerian students having less financial support from their governments to study overseas.
The decline in Texas is striking because it follows years of statewide gains from about 66,100 foreign applications for admission in fall 2013 to more than 86,600 applications in fall 2016 for the 31 public universities that provided data. About 75,750 international students applied for admission this year to those campuses.
“No change, no rise, would (have been) news given the historical trend,” said Melanie Gottlieb, deputy director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Nationally, about two in five universities said they saw a decline in international applications, and 35 percent saw an increase, according to a survey by Gottlieb’s association.
Texas’ declines may be steeper than drops in other regions of the country because Ivy League universities in New England and schools in California tend to have more global name recognition, Gottlieb said.
Campus carry was a sticking point for some applicants, Fuller said. Admissions officers shared facts about the law — like that handguns had to be concealed and that areas of campus were exempt — to offer a more complete picture, he said. Considering other countries
For some students, to be sure, the appeal of a Texas education remains clear.
Himanshu Sipani, of the Madhya Pradesh region of central India, was sitting outside the University of Houston welcome center in June as incoming freshmen in bright red T-shirts explored the campus grounds. Sipani and his son Jatin, 17, were visiting Texas for campus tours as Jatin hopes to enroll at a U.S. university in the spring 2018 semester.
“Some families are a little hesitant, but many positive sides are here,” Sipani said, saying his son could get a good job after graduating from UH.
He was impressed by the university’s library and dining facilities. “Education in the U.S.,” he said, “is the finest in the world.”
Some students at Aditya Mankare’s high school in Maharashtra, India, decided not to apply to a U.S. university after the election, the 18-year-old student said. Instead, they applied to universities in Canada, Singapore and in the UK, he said.
But Mankare wasn’t swayed by politics. He’ll enroll at UH in the fall. “It’s temporary — I didn’t think it was going to impact my college life,” he said. Showing inclusivity
Still, universities in the state are taking steps to mitigate declines.
Bruce Jones, the University of Houston’s vice provost for academic programs who oversees international enrollment for graduate students, said several programs extended application deadlines as it saw that fewer students applied. Professors who collaborate with international undergraduates on research were encouraged to tap into those networks to recruit graduate students, he said.
Other universities reached out to admitted students to teach them how to apply for a visa, to tell them what to expect in interviews and to explain what documents they needed, said Rajika Bhandari, head of research, policy and practice at the Institute of International Education.
In April and May, several Texas campuses joined a national campaign dubbed “You Are Welcome Here.” They released videos showing staff, faculty and student groups telling international students to join them on campus.
“There are so many international students in Houston that I feel right at home in this city and university,” said one person in a University of HoustonDowntown video as she held the French flag.
UT-Austin made a video to show potential applicants that it valued diverse perspectives, said Teri Albrecht, UT-Austin’s director for international student and scholar services.
“It was about making sure that as an institution we are telling our international applicants that we want (these) scholars at UT,” she said. “Messaging is really important.”